Interesting Tidbits.

[n5lyc]

 They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to
> all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken &
> sold to the tannery........if you had to do this to survive
> you were "Piss Poor"
>
> But worse than that were the really poor folk who
> couldnt even afford to
> buy a pot........they "didnt have a pot to piss
> in" & were the lowest of the
> low
>
>
> The
> next time you are washing your hands and complain because
> the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think
> about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the
> 1500s:
>
> Most
> people got married in June because they took their yearly
> bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they
were
> starting to smell . .. .
> brides carried a bouquet
> of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a
> bouquet when getting married.
>
> Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man
> of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then
> all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the
> children. Last of all the
>
> babies. By then the
> water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.
> Hence the
>  saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath
> water!"
>
> Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no
> wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get
> warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs)
> lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and
> sometimes the animals would slip an d fall off the roof. Hence
> the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."
>
> There was nothing to stop things from falling into the
> house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs
> and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed.
> Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top
> afforded some
>  protection. That's how canopy beds came into
> existence.
>
> The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other
> than dirt. Hence the saying,
> "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors
> that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they
> spread thresh (straw) o n floor to help keep their footing.
> As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when
> you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A
> piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a
> thresh hold.
>
> (Getting quite an education, aren't you?)
>
> In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big
> kettle that always hung over the fire.. Every day they lit the fire
> and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and
> did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner,
> leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then
> start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that
> had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas
> porridge hot, peas
> porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.
>
> Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel
> quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up
> their bacon to show off. It was a sign
>  of wealth that a man could, "bring home the
> bacon." They would cut off a little to share with
> guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.
>
> Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high
> acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food,
> causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with
> tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were
> considered poisonous.
>
> Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the
> burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and
> guests got the top, or the upper crust.
>
> Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination
> would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days.
> Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and
> prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen
> table for a couple of days and the family would gather
> around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake
> up. Hence the custom of holding
> a wake.
>
> England is old and small and the local folks started
> running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up
> coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse
> the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins
> were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they
> realized they had been burying people alive. So they would
>  tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through
> the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell.
> Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night
> (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus,someone could be, saved by
the
> bell or was considered a dead ringer...
>
> And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was
> boring! !

[Dryball]

I knew a few of these, but not all. Thanks for sharing these bits of information!

Dennis

[voyageur1688]

  Very interesting. Knew some of em but not all of em.
Voy

[aka-kesler]

Great stuff some I knew Some not so much, but at a rondy about 15 yrs ago we had a 2 week old stew we were still eatin off of and as I recall wasnt bad just thicker every day and there were 3 of us eatin off of it and contributing to it ,potatoes wild onions tree rat & such. no one got sick either!,

[Red Badger]

Great educational material... As other have said I knew some but not all of 'em